To J. D. Hooker   3 June [1858]

Down Bromley Kent

June 3d

My dear Hooker

I have received a Diploma of Cæs. Leopold. Acad.1 & Sleeman says it will depend on my generosity, whether I will pay for printing Diploma & Registration.2 I am utterly perplexed what to send. Do for Heaven-sake aid me with one line soon.— I do not want to give more than proper, but I am far from wanting to be shabby.—3 Pray forgive this trouble.

Ever yours | C. Darwin

1
CD had been elected to the Academia Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Naturae Curiosorum, the German Academy of Naturalists, or Leopoldina, in September 1857 (Correspondence vol. 6, letter to the Secretary, Academia Caesarea Leopoldino-Carolina Naturae Curiosorum, 8 September [1857]).
2
Berthold Carl Seemann, a German botanist who worked at Kew and was a friend of Hooker’s, had arranged CD’s nomination to the Academia (see Correspondence vol. 6, letter to J. D. Hooker, 11 September [1857]).
3
CD’s Account book (Down House MS) records a payment of £1 4s. to Seemann on 5 June 1858. See also the postscript to the letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 [June 1858].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2279,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2279